Ringing win for Eagles

Mike Molina has experienced winning the Battle for the Bell basketball rivalry as a player and as a coach at Costa Mesa High. Xavier Castellano has as well as a player and a coach at Estancia.

While Molina’s success against the Eagles has come with the boys, Castellano got his first taste of the cross-town rivalry while in charge of the boys at Estancia. Castellano coached the girls at Estancia for six seasons, before taking over the boys this season.

Beating the Mustangs in a girls’ or boys’ basketball game comes easy to Castellano. He led the girls to a 10-2 record against Costa Mesa, and so far, he’s perfect against the Mustangs’ boys.

In front of a packed gym on Friday, host Estancia won, 54-42, giving the Eagles the first game in the Battle for the Bell series. More importantly to Castellano, his team earned its first Orange Coast League win of the season.

“First time all year we played aggressive,” Castellano said. “We just can’t [play like] this one night. It’s got to be every night.”

The Eagles (7-10, 1-1 in league) turned it up a notch defensively and it carried over to the offensive end, especially during an 18-0 run in the first half that put Estancia in control. The run began in the final 2 minutes of the first quarter and ended 2 minutes into the second quarter.

The player who sparked the run was Evan Pettingill, who knocked down a three-pointer at the 1:53 mark in the opening quarter. But Pettingill’s biggest contribution came on the defensive end. He fronted the best player on the court, Costa Mesa’s Mason Tufuga, a 6-foot-5 junior, all night, limiting his opportunities.

Tufuga had 5 inches on Pettingill, yet Tufuga finished with six points on three-for-six shooting. Pettingill and the Eagles, who used a box-and-one defense, didn’t let Tufuga beat them.

“Any time we tried to create a passing lane into [Tufuga], they stuck two guys in front of him,” Molina said. “We’re going to have to find ways to adjust. I got outcoached tonight, ours players got outplayed.”

The setback came on Molina’s 24th birthday. Even though the Mustangs have claimed the Battle for the Bell in each of the past three seasons, the PA announcer at Estancia wished Molina a “Happy Birthday!”

By halftime, Molina’s big night wasn’t going the way he wanted it. The Mustangs trailed, 38-17, as the Eagles produced 27 points in the second quarter. Estancia made its first six shots in the second quarter, Gunnar Johnston had the first two, nailing NBA three-pointers, and Connor Brown made the other four. Brown couldn’t miss in the second quarter, hitting all five of his field goals to give him 11 points.

“We haven’t scored 27 points in a quarter all year,” said Castellano, who has Estancia closer to winning the Bell trophy for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

“Tonight’s a good win, but we got to play them again [on Feb. 6] and they’re going to be tough [at home].”

When Castellano, a 1998 Estancia graduate, suited up for the Eagles, Estancia owned Costa Mesa. Times have changed since Estancia ripped off 30 straight wins against the Mustangs from 1981-82 to 1998-99.

The archrivals have played 34 times since the streak ended during the 1999-00 season, and they have split the contests. Molina has been a part of seven of those wins, six as a player and one as a coach. But Molina, in his second season at the helm of the Mustangs, has only topped the Eagles once in three tries.

The Mustangs (7-11, 0-2 in league) were unable to respond after they dropped their league opener on Wednesday, falling at home to Laguna Beach, 52-42. The league has only known one champion, Laguna Beach, which has won eight league crowns in as many seasons.

The Breakers’ run in league appears to be in jeopardy. Godinez, with UC Irvine-bound senior Brandon Smith, is the team to beat in league this season. Costa Mesa gets its first shot at Smith, a 6-foot-5, 175-pounder, next Wednesday, when it plays host to the Grizzlies (15-4, 2-0), ranked No. 7 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1A poll.

Playing the defending league champion, a nemesis, and then the new face of the league is a tough start to league for the Mustangs. They haven’t won in the New Year. Costa Mesa is on a four-game skid, losing by double-digits every time.

Nabeel Salameh and Calvin Ko tried to get Costa Mesa back on track, finishing with 12 and 10 points, respectively, at Estancia. The two juniors helped the Mustangs open the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run, cutting the deficit to 44-35 with 5:45 left to play, but Johnston and Chad Barris answered with baskets.

Johnston finished with 19 points and six rebounds, while Barris had 14 points, five rebounds and three steals. The seniors closed things out for Estancia, which went into Friday having only won once in its previous seven games.

The Eagles’ next game is at home Wednesday against Laguna Beach (10-10, 2-0), a program that has gone 15-3 against Estancia since the Orange Coast League’s inaugural season in 2006-07. Each of the Eagles’ three league wins against Laguna Beach has come at Estancia.

“I was at one of those wins [during Agustin Heredia’s] first year [as Estancia’s coach],” said Castellano, who took over a team that went 10-18 overall and 4-6 in league, good for fourth place and an at-large berth into the CIF Southern Section Division 3A playoffs last season. “We won at the buzzer. [Heredia] started the dog pile. It was just a great memory.”

Orange Coast League

Costa Mesa 54, Estancia 42

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Costa Mesa 8 – 9 – 12 – 13 — 42

Estancia 11 – 27 – 6 – 10 — 54

CM – Salameh 12, Ko 10, Calderon 7, Tufuga 6, Daniel 4, Pepic 3.

3-pt. goals – Ko 1, Pepic 1, Salameh 1, Calderon 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

E – Johnston 19, Barris 14, Brown 11, McReynolds 4, Pettingill 3, Van Dyke 3.

3-pt. goals – Johnston 2, Pettingill 1, Van Dyke 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.